- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 373
A rather amusing 18th Century Hoax that had some rather unfortunate consequences for all parties involved.
Link: Wikipedia on Beringer's Lying Stones
Link: The Geological Society
And you can read (well, I was just there for the illustrations) the original manuscript here: https://books.google.ca/books?id=3PhcAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Droll indeed, although I can see how wanting so badly to believe led to errors (and mischief) all round...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 359
Via Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/consciousness-might-hide-in-our-brains-electric-fields/
Now, I've read a few of these theories, so just add this to the heap. While I certainly subscribe to the view that the entirety of our experience isn't contained within our body or heads, I haven't time to chase after every theory of everything that our consciousness hides in other dimensions, in quantum states, in the earth's magnetosphere, etc, etc. But it is something to think about.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 329
John Wheeler, American Theoretical Physicist, striving to create a unified theory of everything that was objectively the same to all observers. Which, as the article lays out, was no easy task.
Link: Quanta Magazine - John Wheeler, the Tear in Reality
Link: Bio on Wikipedia
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 338
To summarize, the internet as a communication tool for and by the people has been so largely displaced by algorithms and bots that it for all intents and purposes is dead. It's sole purposes is to create consumers out of users.
It is less a theory than a grim reality.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 351
I'm up way too early and reading articles out of my depth on the internet.
A better-than-usual roundup of links for the day
#1 - "Omnipresent AI cameras will ensure good behavior, says Larry Ellison"
Yet another "well meaning" tech billionaire attempts to persuade the world that the future is a going to be made a better place with the help of his intrusive but well meaning technology. These people are clueless.
#2 - "Is accidentally stumbling across the unknown a key part of science?"
A little more of interest here that highlights how refreshing little we know about the world we live in, and how much there might yet to be learned...
Via aeon.co, a website that seems to get a lot of my visits. A long but worthwhile read. Mind you, I should revisit it later in the day when I've had a little more coffee, it's a little too early for all this yet...